Yep, it be a catalpa. There was one in the front yard of the Philadelphia house I grew up in. Some of my friends referred to it as a “Johnny smoker tree” but I never really understood that, unless the pods were to be smoked? I believe it was far from its native range, so I’ve wondered how it got there. Long gone now.

The synagogue a few blocks from my childhood house in the deep Midwestern flyover was surrounded by these things, and the ground was entirely covered with seed pods for a few weeks in the fall. We have them in Mediocrevilleburgton, which is closer to their natural southern range. The nasty caterpillars that eat their leaves are used for fishbait.